Let me start off by saying I'm a germaphobe. We just moved into a new house and DH's dog is about 80 lbs of pure nuisance. The poop area is smaller at the new house. At first it was bark mulch and you couldn't see the poop very well so every single day, the dog walked thru his own poop and tracked it in the house. We tried picking it up daily, but ended up stepping in poop everytime we went out there!! We are trying everything and I am ready to take that mutt to the pound I am so frustrated We have put down gravel so that the brown piles are easy to see. Today there was a smashed piece of poop in the gravel plain as day! I do my best to check his feet and wipe them when he comes in, but if he stepped in poop, just wiping his feet doesn't make them sanitary, kwim?

I have had to spot clean a million carpet poo stains and I mop the kitchen floor every single ****** day, excuse my french but I am exhausted!!! And I want to use a disinfectant for the germs, but I am trying to use environmentally friendly cleaners. I am so disgusted about the thought of my baby crawling around on those floors and the carpet doesn't "feel" clean anymore when the dog walks on it all the time.

1. Am I being paranoid?
2. Anyone else have the same problem and how do you keep your floors clean enough for baby with dogs?

Thanks for the post. It's easyto see the poop now since we put down gravel so we don't step in it anymore , but the dog still does. I'm usually dealing with my sweet little high maintenance 6mo old and just let the dogs outside for a few minutes. It's such a PITA to have to get a rag and wipe their feet EVERY time they come inside!

I guess it's more of a vent than a question. (sigh) I'm just so tired of trying to keep the floors clean while my baby learns to crawl.

Weird- are you sure it's always poop on his paws and not just mud and dirt? I have 2 50lb dogs and I've never had them track in poop unless someone had the runs and then it's on thier bum hair not on paws.
It's great that dh trained the dog to only go in one spot in the yard- that's nice

when you're freaking out about doggie germs, remind yourself that kids who grow up with dogs and cats in the house have less incidence of allergies

See that big sweet mushy lump of a dog in my avi? He has that same problem. Though for him it isn't daily, only if dh lets "poo corner" as he calls it get nasty. Or if he has a sick tummy. I point out to dh that he has to keep the darn corner clean cause Duke is such a dummy he will step in his own poo without even paying attention (doesn't help that he is such a huge lummux). But as dh point out, even though he picks up the piles any germs are still there, they don't disapear jsut because the pile does. But our dogs are health and so the risk from their germs is not high, I jsut don't want the mess in my house, and if i see it I get the germ freak out going. I try not to even think about what the cat drags around the house.

For enviromentally safe sanitary cleaning use white vinegar, it kills germs, and try to remember that A) if your dog is healthy he doesn't have many germs to pass on and B) people have been living with dogs for thousands of years, and we didn't have the kind of sanitation we have now during most of that time. Some how we survived. IN fact studies show that children that grow up with dogs are healthier than those who don't. You would be suprised the kinds of germs out there in your lawn that your dog and you and anyone who walks around out there and comes in is bringing in with them, things not visible and far worse than anything you will get from your healthy pet. But still we survive. I know it is hard to let go of, it is hard for me too, but I try to remember that my children will be better off in the long run if I let them get dirty and don't freak about germs.

See that big sweet mushy lump of a dog in my avi? He has that same problem. Though for him it isn't daily, only if dh lets "poo corner" as he calls it get nasty. Or if he has a sick tummy. I point out to dh that he has to keep the darn corner clean cause Duke is such a dummy he will step in his own poo without even paying attention (doesn't help that he is such a huge lummux). But as dh point out, even though he picks up the piles any germs are still there, they don't disapear jsut because the pile does. But our dogs are health and so the risk from their germs is not high, I jsut don't want the mess in my house, and if i see it I get the germ freak out going. I try not to even think about what the cat drags around the house.

For enviromentally safe sanitary cleaning use white vinegar, it kills germs, and try to remember that A) if your dog is healthy he doesn't have many germs to pass on and B) people have been living with dogs for thousands of years, and we didn't have the kind of sanitation we have now during most of that time. Some how we survived. IN fact studies show that children that grow up with dogs are healthier than those who don't. You would be suprised the kinds of germs out there in your lawn that your dog and you and anyone who walks around out there and comes in is bringing in with them, things not visible and far worse than anything you will get from your healthy pet. But still we survive. I know it is hard to let go of, it is hard for me too, but I try to remember that my children will be better off in the long run if I let them get dirty and don't freak about germs.

Luckily, we don't have that problem, as our dog seems scared of his poop (golden's can be such wimps!) but if I were you, I think it would be worth it to scoop up that poop after each time he does it, anything has to be better then poop on the carpet, right?

I feel your pain! I have a 90 pound stupid dog that steps in her poo too. We have a gravel area for the dog too (my 2 year old yells "go on rocks" every time we let her out ). It's a PITA, but we have to wipe her paws every time she comes in. When she gets poo on her paws, even a trace amount, we bring out the "poo bucket" (just a bucket we use for washing poo paws) and wash her paws thoroughly with a mild disinfectant. The bonus is that she has seizures that 100s of $ of testing has not figured out why. When she seizes she loses her bowels & bladder & seizes in it. I then have the floor to clean & the 90 dog to clean that usually can't even stand up at that point. Fun.
From a germ standpoint, I believe there's only one disease that can be passed from fecal matter, Giardia, which by the way this same dog of mine had at one point. Thankfully, it was long before my son was even a concept or I would have freaked out. I'm a bit of a germaphobe & that would have sent me over the edge. It's not very common, so I wouldn't be too worried about it.

Thank goodness we don't have the poo problem, but we do have a dog (actually he's DH's dog, I refuse to claim him ) and I can't stand having him in the house. He sheds like crazy, and slobbers, yuck! I feel like I can't ever get my house clean enough. I hate even putting DD on the floor because it just doesn't seem clean no matter what I do. I tell everyone, DH and I never argue about issues concerning DD, we fight about the dog